38 Years Ago In Time

By Elizabeth L. Bland, Lina Lofaro, Sora Song and Rebecca Winters

When the power failed last week, many Americans' initial thought was of terrorism. The 1965 BLACKOUT led some Americans to blame themselves or their cold war enemies:

At first, many thought the darkness came from within. A middle-aged executive who had been playing a too-vigorous game of basketball wondered if the fading light before his eyes signaled a massive coronary...Scores concluded that, like latter-day Mrs. O'Learys, they were personally to blame for the blackout. After trimming the ends of some loose wires in readiness for the house painters next day, a Manhattan housewife saw the whole city go black and gasped: "What have I done now?" A small boy in Conway, N.H., whacked a telephone pole with a stick, saw night descend, and raced home weeping to his mother. Rumors flew wildly. On the beleaguered 4:55 to Croton-on-Hudson, a New York Central conductor cried: "Some Commie's pulled the switch from here to Canada!" Sabotage was on many minds. "You can't blame me," a Cuban U.N. official assured a U.S. delegate when the lights blew. "I was right here all the time." --Time, Nov. 19, 1965